An hour or so after he had led his Edmonton Oilers to the 1988 Stanley Cup, their fourth in five seasons, Wayne Gretzky sat by himself on the players bench in an empty Northlands Coliseum. While his teammates, who were like a second family to him, whooped it up in the dressing room, he wanted to be alone with his thoughts and memories. Unshowered, still wearing most of his gear with dried champagne clinging to his skin and clothes, he stared up at the seats and the rafters, where banners hung trumpeting the Oilers' hard fought triumphs. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't, that he would never skate there again as an Oiler. In 75 days, the greatest player of his generation would be a member of the Los Angeles Kings.